Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results?

ClinicaTerra · 10-11-2011, 03:27 PM

We recently lost a Calico Fantail goldfish to what appeared to be severe swim bladder disease. Now, our all-orange fantail seems to be exhibiting signs that are just..."off." His swimming isn't so even over the last few weeks, and we were concerned -- I pulled out the API master freshwater test kit and ran the whole battery. It's so difficult for me to determine some of these colors that show up on some of the tests, compared to the cardboard chart, but here is what I think we got (they don't look too good from my calculations):

High PH: Approx. 8.2 (From what I understand reading the directions, goldfish should be in a range of 7.5 or so, so we ran both series of PH tests; not sure which is correct)

PH: 7.6+ Approx?

Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm (No matter how many times I do this test, it ALWAYS comes back with this reading -- it's NEVER 0ppm, indicating to me that this may be due to keeping goldfish)

NitrIte: 0.25 Approx.

NitrAte: Anywhere from 40 to 160ppm; it's too difficult to make out the orange-to-red range...

Can anyone help with these readings and tell me if I need to add chemicals to lower some of these numbers or just do a water change?

jrman83 · 10-11-2011, 03:43 PM

Your ph is 8.2...the low test solution maxes out at 7.6. Just like I have here, it's sort of useless for your water.

For the ammonia test, test your tap water and see if you get the same result. This would not mean that you have ammonia in your tap, if you are just getting a false reading. It is more to prove you are getting a false .25ppm ammonia reading than anything.

The nitrite I would be concerned about. The ammonia reading could be true if you have nitrites present, since you usually see one after the other.

The nitrate colors do suck sometimes. If the color is an orange shade, I would say you could be okay. But, if it is a reddish color it is getting a little too high.

Personally, I would do at least a 25% water change (preferrably 50%), wait an hour or so and test again. Don't use any chemicals.

Just how big are your fish getting?

ClinicaTerra · 10-11-2011, 05:23 PM

As always, JR, thanks...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrman83

Your ph is 8.2...the low test solution maxes out at 7.6. Just like I have here, it's sort of useless for your water.

What do you mean? What about the HI PH test then? I ran both...

Quote:

For the ammonia test, test your tap water and see if you get the same result. This would not mean that you have ammonia in your tap, if you are just getting a false reading. It is more to prove you are getting a false .25ppm ammonia reading than anything.

I have not tested tap yet; but would 0.25 be that bad, considering I'm keeping goldies? It never really, from what I can tell, gets over this reading...

Quote:

The nitrite I would be concerned about. The ammonia reading could be true if you have nitrites present, since you usually see one after the other.

Oh no...

Quote:

The nitrate colors do suck sometimes. If the color is an orange shade, I would say you could be okay. But, if it is a reddish color it is getting a little too high.

As we have discussed previously, it's SO darn hard to read this test -- it could range anywhere from the medium oranges to getting close to the crimson red; I just cannot tell exactly.

Quote:

Personally, I would do at least a 25% water change (preferrably 50%), wait an hour or so and test again. Don't use any chemicals.

Okay. Let me work on that and get back to you with my findings.

Quote:

Just how big are your fish getting?

The three goldies we have left -- and which we originally started out with, ironically -- are all growing rather well. The Red Cap Oranda has gotten pretty large, with all sorts of orange specks from her wen's colors spreading down to her body and fins; they're beautiful. The chocolate/gold fantail seems to be doing the best, growing large and round with almost every passing week...

jrman83 · 10-11-2011, 05:41 PM

I meant you would just need to the high range test for ph. The blue bottle Ph test can only register as high as 7.6. Your ph could be 9 and it will still read 7.6. So any time you peg the low-end test, it is best to test using the high range solution. If your ph were 7.6, you would register that in the high range test, but since it came up at 8.2 that is what you have.

.25 may not be that bad, but even sustained low levels of ammonia can be bad. Goldies may be a little accustomed to it. Testing your tap would be to see if your test indication is accurate or faulty. Some people have reported getting a .25ppm no matter what they do.

holly12 · 10-11-2011, 09:02 PM

Agreed. If you have ammonia and/or nitrites reading at .25ppm then you need to do a 25% water change to get the numbers back to 0ppm. You need to get your Nitrates down to 40ppm or less (preferable under 30ppm), any higher and it starts to get dangerous.

My Nitrates are always around 25-40ppm. (We have 80ppm Nitrates out of the tap, so I am using live plants and Nitrazorb to bring them down.)

FishesRDelicious · 10-11-2011, 09:46 PM

I have comets, and they do fine with a pH of about 8.5. I moved them to a bigger tank this weekend and last time I tested it it was closer to 9 for some reason, which is higher than I'd like, but the point is that as long as your pH is constant it wont be a problem at 8.2 I'd be concerned about the nitrate/nitrite and ammonia levels though. Did you add conditioner to neutralize chlorine and other metals? What do you mean when you say his swimming is "off"? Can you explain that a little more?

ClinicaTerra · 10-12-2011, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by holly12

Agreed. If you have ammonia and/or nitrites reading at .25ppm then you need to do a 25% water change to get the numbers back to 0ppm. You need to get your Nitrates down to 40ppm or less (preferable under 30ppm), any higher and it starts to get dangerous.

My Nitrates are always around 25-40ppm. (We have 80ppm Nitrates out of the tap, so I am using live plants and Nitrazorb to bring them down.)

The thing is, with regard to the ammonia, I have always gotten this "between 0 and 0.25" reading since I have set up this tank, more than a year ago; I was advised this could possibly be either due to a faulty reading from the API kit, or from the fact that we're keeping a species like fancy goldfish...

Okay, so we will do a water change as soon as we can, probably tomorrow at some point; I will get back to all of you with those results when I take them an hour after doing the change (per JR's recommendation)...

With regard to the Nitrates and Nitrites, what should I be shooting for, specifically, for my goldie tank? NitrAtes should be around 40ppm or less? And NitrItes should be around 0?

ClinicaTerra · 10-12-2011, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishesRDelicious

I have comets, and they do fine with a pH of about 8.5. I moved them to a bigger tank this weekend and last time I tested it it was closer to 9 for some reason, which is higher than I'd like, but the point is that as long as your pH is constant it wont be a problem at 8.2

But I'm not even clear as to which of the two tests I should be looking at for my goldie tank -- the High pH or standard pH; I mean, I just don't know how to read these things...

Quote:

I'd be concerned about the nitrate/nitrite and ammonia levels though. Did you add conditioner to neutralize chlorine and other metals?

Absolutely -- I add Seachem's PRIME each and every time we do a top off or a change; I add just ONE capful per the instructions on the bottle for our 60 gallon tank (this may be a bit -- just a bit -- shy of the exact amount to use, but I was advised that one capful would be enough for 60 gallons).

So, no chance of metals or chlorine coming into the water column...

Quote:

What do you mean when you say his swimming is "off"? Can you explain that a little more?

I will definitely do my best...

He's just not himself, if you knew him; he is kind of being "blown around" by the current in the tank, which he never did before -- not badly, but kind of drifting with the currents caused by our two filters and the bubble bars -- and he is exhibiting some offbeat kind of swimming, where he kind of wiggles into a circle and doesn't really swim straight.

This concerned me greatly because just prior to losing our Calico Fantail, he was exhibiting these "swimming on his head" and upside down swimming behaviors; this fantail isn't going upside down, but he kind of does these strange circles and roundabouts as if his complete "balance" isn't there. I also suspect there may be a slight bit of clamped dorsal fin going on too which is always alarming; the main thing is, though, that he's doing these odd circles in which he goes head down and wiggles around.

ClinicaTerra · 10-12-2011, 12:27 AM

Thank you, everyone, thus far for your continued assistance and input with regard to the thread. It is greatly appreciated.

Can someone tell me exactly what kinds of readings I should be looking for when I run these API tests, for each parameter category?

I realize Ammonia, ideally, should be 0ppm -- but what about Nitrates, Nitrites and pH?

fishman81 · 10-12-2011, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClinicaTerra

We recently lost a Calico Fantail goldfish to what appeared to be severe swim bladder disease. Now, our all-orange fantail seems to be exhibiting signs that are just..."off." His swimming isn't so even over the last few weeks, and we were concerned -- I pulled out the API master freshwater test kit and ran the whole battery. It's so difficult for me to determine some of these colors that show up on some of the tests, compared to the cardboard chart, but here is what I think we got (they don't look too good from my calculations):

High PH: Approx. 8.2 (From what I understand reading the directions, goldfish should be in a range of 7.5 or so, so we ran both series of PH tests; not sure which is correct)

PH: 7.6+ Approx?

Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm (No matter how many times I do this test, it ALWAYS comes back with this reading -- it's NEVER 0ppm, indicating to me that this may be due to keeping goldfish)

NitrIte: 0.25 Approx.

NitrAte: Anywhere from 40 to 160ppm; it's too difficult to make out the orange-to-red range...

Can anyone help with these readings and tell me if I need to add chemicals to lower some of these numbers or just do a water change?

do some bigger water changes, and more frequent. this can't hurt if you do it right. just make sure to match h20 temps between new water and tank water the best you can. when doing large ones (more than 20% use a thermometer). I'm always quite liberal with PRIME as it helps detoxify amonia, nitrtites, and nitrates.

James0816 · 10-12-2011, 06:57 AM

The thing is, this is a goldie tank. The chances of 0 NH3 will be small. However, .25 wont harm the goldies. Regular water changes will keep things in check. The bigger the goldies get, the larger the WC will need to be. If I'm not mistaken, you have a bubble wand in the tank correct? Increased oxygenation is a plus.

NitrAte. Anything <= 40 is ok. Definately don't want it to be over 40. If your test color comes out to a beet red, then you're over 40. Water change is on tap at that point.

jrman83 · 10-12-2011, 08:36 AM

Ammonia and nitrite - zero. That's the goal, but possibly not attainable for the ammonia as mentioned by james.

On the ph testing.....for the low range test, the range is 6.0-7.6. Refer to the colors. If you test your water using this solution (blue label bottle) and you get a reading of 7.6 (sky blue color) then it means you have gotten a reading for the highest reading the solution is capable of. So if you test your water and see that the low range solution gives you a result of 7.6 it only means that the water you tested is either exactly 7.6 or you've reached the limit of the test. What this forces you to do is test your water with the high range solution to see if your water really is a ph of 7.6, or possibly higher. If your water was a 7.6, when you tested with the high range solution the reading would end being a 7.4 or 7.8, based on the colors for the high range test on the chart. For you, since when you tested with the high range solution and you got a reading of 8.2 (four colors higher than the lowest possible reading on the high range test), this would mean that your ph is 8.2. With a ph of 8.2, the low range, blue label bottle, will always read 7.6 - forever. Because you have maxed out the capabilities of the test.

So it is good that you use both tests. But...since the low range test is maxed and your reading from the high range solution is higher than the lowest possible result on the high range test, you would get the ph of your water from the high range solution.

There are a lot of people out there that don't really understand this problem. ANY time somebody comes on here and says that their ph is 7.6 and they have not tested with a high range solution, there is a very good chance that their ph is higher.

Does that help?

beaslbob · 10-12-2011, 10:47 AM

In my heavily planted tanks. ammonia, nitrItes, nitrates, and phosphates are unmeasureable.

pH is 8.4-8.8 (high ph means low carbon dioxide so with no circulation the plants are sucking out the co2 resulting in the high ph. Fish "needing" much lower pH values thrive and ive for years.)

my .02

Suzanne · 10-12-2011, 12:05 PM

As far as reading the colors, I find that it's helpful to do it in a place with either ample natural light or a good, white (not yellowish) artificial light (I have a fluorescent desk lamp that works well). Hold the tube up against the white part of the card, right next to the colors you're comparing to, and hold it so that light shines through the tube onto the card behind. This way the solution is well lit and you have a white background so that isn't influencing how the color looks.

Hope this helps - I agree, though, that the nitrates can be especially difficult to read.

ClinicaTerra · 10-15-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James0816

The thing is, this is a goldie tank.

Right; that's what I've been trying to convey to everyone, to support the possibility that such a tank will never see complete zeros on all tests, notably ammonia (from what I have read and learned)...

Quote:

The chances of 0 NH3 will be small. However, .25 wont harm the goldies.

Wait -- are we talking Nitrates, Nitrites or Ammonia here?

Quote:

Regular water changes will keep things in check. The bigger the goldies get, the larger the WC will need to be. If I'm not mistaken, you have a bubble wand in the tank correct? Increased oxygenation is a plus.

Yes, we have two bubble bars in there now, and there's a lot of oxygenation from the bars and the two HOBs...

Quote:

NitrAte. Anything <= 40 is ok. Definately don't want it to be over 40. If your test color comes out to a beet red, then you're over 40. Water change is on tap at that point.

Okay -- this is what I wanted to know, to a more definitive point. Thank you. It's a real difficult test to read as it seems like our water can fall anywhere from the dark or medium orange to approaching the red; we're due for a water change anyway...

ClinicaTerra · 10-15-2011, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrman83

Ammonia and nitrite - zero. That's the goal, but possibly not attainable for the ammonia as mentioned by james.

Okay -- so he was talking about Ammonia; that's what I wanted to know in my previous reply post. Thanks.

So...putting the Ammonia aside for a moment, I should be shooting for 0 NitrIte?

Quote:

On the ph testing.....for the low range test, the range is 6.0-7.6. Refer to the colors. If you test your water using this solution (blue label bottle) and you get a reading of 7.6 (sky blue color) then it means you have gotten a reading for the highest reading the solution is capable of. So if you test your water and see that the low range solution gives you a result of 7.6 it only means that the water you tested is either exactly 7.6 or you've reached the limit of the test. What this forces you to do is test your water with the high range solution to see if your water really is a ph of 7.6, or possibly higher. If your water was a 7.6, when you tested with the high range solution the reading would end being a 7.4 or 7.8, based on the colors for the high range test on the chart. For you, since when you tested with the high range solution and you got a reading of 8.2 (four colors higher than the lowest possible reading on the high range test), this would mean that your ph is 8.2. With a ph of 8.2, the low range, blue label bottle, will always read 7.6 - forever. Because you have maxed out the capabilities of the test.

So it is good that you use both tests. But...since the low range test is maxed and your reading from the high range solution is higher than the lowest possible result on the high range test, you would get the ph of your water from the high range solution.

There are a lot of people out there that don't really understand this problem. ANY time somebody comes on here and says that their ph is 7.6 and they have not tested with a high range solution, there is a very good chance that their ph is higher.

Does that help?

I'm honestly not sure JR...but I truly appreciate your explanation and assistance trying to lay this all out for me...

Let's try it this way -- are the numbers I got for my goldie tank in the HIGH pH test okay?

ClinicaTerra · 10-15-2011, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzanne

As far as reading the colors, I find that it's helpful to do it in a place with either ample natural light or a good, white (not yellowish) artificial light (I have a fluorescent desk lamp that works well). Hold the tube up against the white part of the card, right next to the colors you're comparing to, and hold it so that light shines through the tube onto the card behind. This way the solution is well lit and you have a white background so that isn't influencing how the color looks.

Thanks, Suzanne.

I haven't tried your method of better reading the color card, but what I normally do is hold the test tube up against the white part of the card between the color patches and try to match them that way -- it is difficult with many of the tests, indeed, because it seems to me that any number of color ranges could "fit" when I compare the tube to the card colors...

Quote:

Hope this helps - I agree, though, that the nitrates can be especially difficult to read.

Whew!

At least someone recognizes this! I believe JR agreed with me at one point as well that the NitrAte test is very difficult to analyze based on the ranges of orange-into-red...

ClinicaTerra · 10-15-2011, 03:23 PM

Thanks, Everyone, for Your Ongoing Assistance...

I have not had a chance to do a water change with so much going on in my personal life, but me and the wife are going to perhaps attempt a 50 percent change tonight -- if we do, I will wait the hour, as JR suggested, and test all parameters again and report back here...

FishesRDelicious · 10-15-2011, 11:01 PM

JR explained the high/low range pH scales correctly, but I'll try to explain it differently. It may look long and daunting but I tried to be organized. I hope it helps.

A low range test will give a result between 6.0 and 7.6. The low range test is incapable of measuring a pH higher than 7.6 so we say that the low range test maxes out at 7.6. If you run a sample with a known pH of 8.6, the low range test will tell you that the pH of that known sample is 7.6. Since we know the pH is actually 8.6, we can say the test maxed out and we have to use the high range test.
The high range test is capable of giving accurate readings for samples with higher pHs. I think the range is 7.4 to 8.8. If you run your known 8.6 sample through the high range test, it will give you the accurate reading of 8.6. The high range test maxes out at 8.8 which is higher than your known sample.

Now run an unknown sample through the low range. Say it gives you a reading of 7.6. the pH could really be 7.6, or it could be that the test maxed out. If you run the sample again through the high range test, and it reads 7.6, then your pH is 7.6 (remember that the high range scale is 7.2-8.8). If it reads higher, say 8.2, then you would go with 8.2 as the accurate pH of the sample because that value fits in the high range scale.

10-11-2011, 03:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
ClinicaTerra Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 433 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 6 Times Was Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? We recently lost a Calico Fantail goldfish to what appeared to be severe swim bladder disease. Now, our all-orange fantail seems to be exhibiting signs that are just..."off." His swimming isn't so even over the last few weeks, and we were concerned -- I pulled out the API master freshwater test kit and ran the whole battery. It's so difficult for me to determine some of these colors that show up on some of the tests, compared to the cardboard chart, but here is what I think we got (they don't look too good from my calculations): *High PH: Approx. 8.2* (From what I understand reading the directions, goldfish should be in a range of 7.5 or so, so we ran both series of PH tests; not sure which is correct) PH: 7.6+ Approx? Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm (No matter how many times I do this test, it ALWAYS comes back with this reading -- it's NEVER 0ppm, indicating to me that this may be due to keeping goldfish) NitrIte: 0.25 Approx. NitrAte: Anywhere from 40 to 160ppm; it's too difficult to make out the orange-to-red range... Can anyone help with these readings and tell me if I need to add chemicals to lower some of these numbers or just do a water change? __________________ FUJIMOTO 60-GALLON RECTANGULAR - BLACK OAK STAND & FULL CANOPY - AQUEON GLASS VERSA-TOP (24"X1) & FLUORESCENT LIGHT STRIP - MARINELAND PERFECTO GLASS CANOPY (24"X1) AQUEON QUIETFLOW 55 325GPH (1) - HAGEN AQUACLEAR A-620/110 500GPH (1) RENA AIR 400 (1) - TETRA WHISPER 60 AIR PUMP (1) - PETCO BUBBLE BARS (18"X2) RED CAP ORANDA (1) - CHOCOLATE/GOLD FANTAIL (1) - CALICO RYUKIN (1) - NEW! - ]RED/ORANGE RYUKIN (1) - NEW!

10-11-2011, 03:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
jrman83 ....has no life.... jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 9,463 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD My location Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 3,382 Times Said "Thanks" 478 Times Was Thanked 2,431 Times in 2,286 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? Your ph is 8.2...the low test solution maxes out at 7.6. Just like I have here, it's sort of useless for your water. For the ammonia test, test your tap water and see if you get the same result. This would not mean that you have ammonia in your tap, if you are just getting a false reading. It is more to prove you are getting a false .25ppm ammonia reading than anything. The nitrite I would be concerned about. The ammonia reading could be true if you have nitrites present, since you usually see one after the other. The nitrate colors do suck sometimes. If the color is an orange shade, I would say you could be okay. But, if it is a reddish color it is getting a little too high. Personally, I would do at least a 25% water change (preferrably 50%), wait an hour or so and test again. Don't use any chemicals. Just how big are your fish getting?

10-11-2011, 05:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
jrman83 ....has no life.... jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 9,463 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD My location Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 3,382 Times Said "Thanks" 478 Times Was Thanked 2,431 Times in 2,286 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? I meant you would just need to the high range test for ph. The blue bottle Ph test can only register as high as 7.6. Your ph could be 9 and it will still read 7.6. So any time you peg the low-end test, it is best to test using the high range solution. If your ph were 7.6, you would register that in the high range test, but since it came up at 8.2 that is what you have. .25 may not be that bad, but even sustained low levels of ammonia can be bad. Goldies may be a little accustomed to it. Testing your tap would be to see if your test indication is accurate or faulty. Some people have reported getting a .25ppm no matter what they do.

10-11-2011, 09:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
holly12 Dude.... wait..... what? holly12's Photo Gallery Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 3,074 Name: Holly Location: Canada My location Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 815 Times Said "Thanks" 672 Times Was Thanked 528 Times in 515 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? Agreed. If you have ammonia and/or nitrites reading at .25ppm then you need to do a 25% water change to get the numbers back to 0ppm. You need to get your Nitrates down to 40ppm or less (preferable under 30ppm), any higher and it starts to get dangerous. My Nitrates are always around 25-40ppm. (We have 80ppm Nitrates out of the tap, so I am using live plants and Nitrazorb to bring them down.) __________________ 20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981 36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

10-11-2011, 09:46 PM	#6 (permalink)
FishesRDelicious Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 50 Name: Lauren My location Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 1 Times Said "Thanks" 17 Times Was Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? I have comets, and they do fine with a pH of about 8.5. I moved them to a bigger tank this weekend and last time I tested it it was closer to 9 for some reason, which is higher than I'd like, but the point is that as long as your pH is constant it wont be a problem at 8.2 I'd be concerned about the nitrate/nitrite and ammonia levels though. Did you add conditioner to neutralize chlorine and other metals? What do you mean when you say his swimming is "off"? Can you explain that a little more?

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10-12-2011, 12:27 AM	#9 (permalink)
ClinicaTerra Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 433 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 6 Times Was Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? Thank you, everyone, thus far for your continued assistance and input with regard to the thread. It is greatly appreciated. Can someone tell me exactly what kinds of readings I should be looking for when I run these API tests, for each parameter category? I realize Ammonia, ideally, should be 0ppm -- but what about Nitrates, Nitrites and pH? __________________ FUJIMOTO 60-GALLON RECTANGULAR - BLACK OAK STAND & FULL CANOPY - AQUEON GLASS VERSA-TOP (24"X1) & FLUORESCENT LIGHT STRIP - MARINELAND PERFECTO GLASS CANOPY (24"X1) AQUEON QUIETFLOW 55 325GPH (1) - HAGEN AQUACLEAR A-620/110 500GPH (1) RENA AIR 400 (1) - TETRA WHISPER 60 AIR PUMP (1) - PETCO BUBBLE BARS (18"X2) RED CAP ORANDA (1) - CHOCOLATE/GOLD FANTAIL (1) - CALICO RYUKIN (1) - NEW! - ]RED/ORANGE RYUKIN (1) - NEW!

10-12-2011, 06:57 AM	#11 (permalink)
James0816 James0816's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 2,455 Feedback: 13 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 34 Times Was Thanked 526 Times in 454 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? The thing is, this is a goldie tank. The chances of 0 NH3 will be small. However, .25 wont harm the goldies. Regular water changes will keep things in check. The bigger the goldies get, the larger the WC will need to be. If I'm not mistaken, you have a bubble wand in the tank correct? Increased oxygenation is a plus. NitrAte. Anything <= 40 is ok. Definately don't want it to be over 40. If your test color comes out to a beet red, then you're over 40. Water change is on tap at that point.

10-12-2011, 08:36 AM	#12 (permalink)
jrman83 ....has no life.... jrman83's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 9,463 Name: Ben Location: White Plains, MD My location Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 3,382 Times Said "Thanks" 478 Times Was Thanked 2,431 Times in 2,286 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? Ammonia and nitrite - zero. That's the goal, but possibly not attainable for the ammonia as mentioned by james. On the ph testing.....for the low range test, the range is 6.0-7.6. Refer to the colors. If you test your water using this solution (blue label bottle) and you get a reading of 7.6 (sky blue color) then it means you have gotten a reading for the highest reading the solution is capable of. So if you test your water and see that the low range solution gives you a result of 7.6 it only means that the water you tested is either exactly 7.6 or you've reached the limit of the test. What this forces you to do is test your water with the high range solution to see if your water really is a ph of 7.6, or possibly higher. If your water was a 7.6, when you tested with the high range solution the reading would end being a 7.4 or 7.8, based on the colors for the high range test on the chart. For you, since when you tested with the high range solution and you got a reading of 8.2 (four colors higher than the lowest possible reading on the high range test), this would mean that your ph is 8.2. With a ph of 8.2, the low range, blue label bottle, will always read 7.6 - forever. Because you have maxed out the capabilities of the test. So it is good that you use both tests. But...since the low range test is maxed and your reading from the high range solution is higher than the lowest possible result on the high range test, you would get the ph of your water from the high range solution. There are a lot of people out there that don't really understand this problem. ANY time somebody comes on here and says that their ph is 7.6 and they have not tested with a high range solution, there is a very good chance that their ph is higher. Does that help?

10-12-2011, 10:47 AM	#13 (permalink)
beaslbob beaslbob's Photo Gallery Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 3,325 My location Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 339 Times Said "Thanks" 32 Times Was Thanked 835 Times in 761 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? In my heavily planted tanks. ammonia, nitrItes, nitrates, and phosphates are unmeasureable. pH is 8.4-8.8 (high ph means low carbon dioxide so with no circulation the plants are sucking out the co2 resulting in the high ph. Fish "needing" much lower pH values thrive and ive for years.) my .02 __________________ fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

10-12-2011, 12:05 PM	#14 (permalink)
Suzanne Suzanne's Photo Gallery Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 133 Name: Suzanne Location: Minneapolis My location Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 24 Times Said "Thanks" 18 Times Was Thanked 16 Times in 16 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? As far as reading the colors, I find that it's helpful to do it in a place with either ample natural light or a good, white (not yellowish) artificial light (I have a fluorescent desk lamp that works well). Hold the tube up against the white part of the card, right next to the colors you're comparing to, and hold it so that light shines through the tube onto the card behind. This way the solution is well lit and you have a white background so that isn't influencing how the color looks. Hope this helps - I agree, though, that the nitrates can be especially difficult to read.

10-15-2011, 03:23 PM	#18 (permalink)
ClinicaTerra Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 433 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 0 Times Said "Thanks" 6 Times Was Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? Thanks, Everyone, for Your Ongoing Assistance... I have not had a chance to do a water change with so much going on in my personal life, but me and the wife are going to perhaps attempt a 50 percent change tonight -- if we do, I will wait the hour, as JR suggested, and test all parameters again and report back here... __________________ FUJIMOTO 60-GALLON RECTANGULAR - BLACK OAK STAND & FULL CANOPY - AQUEON GLASS VERSA-TOP (24"X1) & FLUORESCENT LIGHT STRIP - MARINELAND PERFECTO GLASS CANOPY (24"X1) AQUEON QUIETFLOW 55 325GPH (1) - HAGEN AQUACLEAR A-620/110 500GPH (1) RENA AIR 400 (1) - TETRA WHISPER 60 AIR PUMP (1) - PETCO BUBBLE BARS (18"X2) RED CAP ORANDA (1) - CHOCOLATE/GOLD FANTAIL (1) - CALICO RYUKIN (1) - NEW! - ]RED/ORANGE RYUKIN (1) - NEW!

10-15-2011, 11:01 PM	#19 (permalink)
FishesRDelicious Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 50 Name: Lauren My location Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 1 Times Said "Thanks" 17 Times Was Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Can Someone Please Help Me Analyze My Latest API Test Results? JR explained the high/low range pH scales correctly, but I'll try to explain it differently. It may look long and daunting but I tried to be organized. I hope it helps. A low range test will give a result between 6.0 and 7.6. The low range test is incapable of measuring a pH higher than 7.6 so we say that the low range test maxes out at 7.6. If you run a sample with a known pH of 8.6, the low range test will tell you that the pH of that known sample is 7.6. Since we know the pH is actually 8.6, we can say the test maxed out and we have to use the high range test. The high range test is capable of giving accurate readings for samples with higher pHs. I think the range is 7.4 to 8.8. If you run your known 8.6 sample through the high range test, it will give you the accurate reading of 8.6. The high range test maxes out at 8.8 which is higher than your known sample. Now run an unknown sample through the low range. Say it gives you a reading of 7.6. the pH could really be 7.6, or it could be that the test maxed out. If you run the sample again through the high range test, and it reads 7.6, then your pH is 7.6 (remember that the high range scale is 7.2-8.8). If it reads higher, say 8.2, then you would go with 8.2 as the accurate pH of the sample because that value fits in the high range scale.

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